Justice is interested in the circumstances of the death of Emmanuelle Debever. An investigation into the causes of death was opened after the recent death of the 60-year-old actress, who had accused Gérard Depardieu of sexual violence, notably in a Facebook post dating from 2019.
On November 29, a man reported that his partner, actress Emmanuelle Debever, 60, “had left the home leaving a worrying note,” according to the public prosecutor. A worrying disappearance procedure was then entrusted to the Brigade for the Repression of Delinquency Against the Person (BRDP). Then “a connection was made with the discovery, by the staff of the 7th arrondissement police station, of a woman who had jumped from a bridge into the Seine”, indicated the Paris prosecutor’s office. She was “revived by the firefighters” and “taken to hospital”, according to the same source. She died on December 7, according to several media reports.
“The fact that this actress had complained about inappropriate behavior from Gérard Depardieu, in particular through a post on Facebook in 2019, was then mentioned in the media,” said the prosecution. “In view of this new element, an investigation into the causes of death was opened” and entrusted to the 3rd judicial police district, which must “investigate the circumstances which may have led to this death”.
A testimony on Facebook in 2019 accusing Gérard Depardieu
The same day, December 7, an issue of the investigative magazine “Complément d’investigation” was published dedicated to the actor, the target of multiple accusations. In her testimony on Facebook in 2019, Emmanuelle Debever spoke of the filming of the film “Danton” by Wajda, produced in 1982. “The sacred monster had allowed himself many things during this filming… Taking advantage of the intimacy inside ‘horse-drawn carriage. Slipping his big paw under my skirts to supposedly make me feel better. Me, not letting myself do it,” she wrote in particular.
Several Internet users, having relayed its publication, mentioned the dismissal, in 2019, of a complaint for rape and sexual assault filed by Emmanuelle Debever against the French cinema giant. The prosecution was not able to confirm this procedure on Wednesday evening.
In addition, Gérard Depardieu has been indicted since December 2020 for rape and sexual assault after another complaint, the actress Charlotte Arnould denouncing two rapes at the actor’s Parisian home at the end of August 2018. Since then, around ten other women have accused him in the press, including actress Hélène Darras. His complaint, filed on September 10 for sexual assault, concerns facts a priori prescribed and is currently being analyzed.